the last minute on the fiscal cliff -- i do not think it is a good way to do business. it seems to be the way we are doing business in this town. host: if we were to go over, what happens? guest: probably, congress would be back in session quickly and we would do something but i am talking about right now, hopefully, and continue to negotiate. it is not to question of dollars and cents. some people have said we could let the rates go up and the republicans could take something down and they could call that a tax cut. people would lose faith in the institution and political leadership. trust is a funny commodity. you have it until you do not. you do not get it back if you lose the trust and then do the right thing the next day. we should convince the country, the markets and the world that america can make smart decisions and tough compromises. this would be a step in the right direction of showing we can work together, and we could put the people first. we have differences and we could fight without putting them in harm's way. host: roger altman writes in "the financial